So who drives a Prius?

No offense taken at all. I knew it sounded kind of strange, but I couldn`t come up with another word at the moment.
As for the English skill, I was born in the US and went through elementary and middle school there before coming to Japan. So I can`t really take credit for having good English. It should probably be better...
I just honestly don`t speak it on anything close to a daily basis - the family is monolingual Japanese - so I have a tendency to screw up on phrases with infrequent use.

Anyway, sorry to have somehow derailed this thread!

 

No derailment and no need to apologize, Tamyu. I happen to think that the ability to communicate in other than your mother tongue is a valuable asset, one that you appear to have mastered.

It is unfortunate that native English speakers tend not to learn other languages, since wherever in the world they travel they generally can get by on English, and often others are glad to get a chance to practice it.
The days when the attitude of the traveling English speaker was "if they can't speak English, they're not worth speaking to" ... those days are fast disappearing. Fluency in other languages is an increasingly valuable asset.

 

That is so true in Los Angeles, USA errrr North Mexico. It's like reverse ESL here.

 

Well we can't let a young Japanese lady just go by without saying hi. Know what I mean?
But I have a question for you. You being Japanese living in Japan, what do you think of your prius? Do You think the quality of the car is up to par with other Japanse cars? Persoanlly I feel it is cheaply made unlike the Gen2 Prius.

 

@hsiaolc

AHHHHH what made me buy it. Crazy.

Lexus CT200h is coming soon !!!

 

I have only ridden in the Gen 2 one time as a passenger, so I cannot really make a good comparison. At that time I felt the Gen 2 seemed a bit light and cheap - maybe "unfinished" would be the best way to say it - which was one of the reasons we didn`t buy it and instead waited until the Gen 3.
So far, I have found our Gen 3 well made. In my opinion it seems more "finished" as a product. There is none of the rattling issues that seem to be common on here nor any other issues. It seems like a standard level car - not meant to be luxury, but above inexpensive compacts. The price seems to make people expect higher levels of stuff, but it`s sort of a technology premium.
I am curious what kind of things make it seem cheap? There are much much cheaper feeling Japanese cars... Having driven the Passo as a loaner car, I think there is probably nothing that feels so cheap while still being a normal car and not a light-car.

Anyway, it is a step up from our previous car, so I am quite happy with it.

 

well... 26 yrs old, got mine last year. Single female (not interested in marriage ), finished photography but just found a shitty job as a secretary. Love heavy metal music, science, and I lve the environment although I dont consider myself an environmentalist.
From what I see here (cyprus) prius drivers are businesmen or familypeople. So I guess IM the odd one out in my place

 

Arghh Thank you very much for the input. It seem cheap because of the rattling issue that a lot of us are having. Never in my car history have I had a car that rattles. Even my cheap Rover 25 when I was poor (still poor) days it didn't rattle and I thought that car was rubbish.

Ofcourse I came from a Acural RL and I guess the only way up is Lexus which I am contemplating at the moment to switch if this rattling business doesn't get sorted it out.

Passo car I am not aware of but I persume it is a much cheaper car? If the same car price bracket compared to a prius such as the Honda accord then the accord is a much better make car.

 

lol so off topic but lovely describtion of yourself. You probably havn't met the right one yet.
As for odd one out I feel very odd one out too and I am definitly not a enviromentalist but a petro head instead.

 

38 Year old black fellow. This is my first automatic car. I bought the Prius because with all of the Toyota talk on the news it seemed like a great time to get a deal. Did not expect to love it as much as I do. Never thought I would join a car forum either, have learned a lot from reading hundreds of posts on Priuschat.

 

So far no rattles here, but I imagine if any come along it is because of weight - not so much cheapness. Making things in all plastic saves a lot of weight I think... And even the best plastic has a tendency to warp. Even a very tiny bit can cause a rattle. I would probably be willing to forgive it to some extent because from a production standpoint, lighter will get better fuel economy - something clearly a goal with the Prius.

I know we could get a much better (in terms of interior, comfort, etc) car for the same price... But it is the technology we were interested in. We looked at the low end of luxury for examples in the same price range, and yes they were "better made" cars when rated by their interiors and the like. But they weren`t hybrid. I would say the price of the Prius itself is maybe three quarters of the price of the car - the remaining quarter is for the hybrid system. To compare well I think it needs to be compared to cars at 75% the price if there is nothing hybrid involved. If compared at that level, the Prius seems quite on the nice side of normal.
If we did not care to have the hybrid related technology - then I am sure we could easily get a "better made" car. It is a technology premium and we accept it as such.

Passo is much much cheaper than the Prius. I just assumed you were referring to Japanese cars in general.

 

We were not considering a new car last August but the C4C deal was too good to pass up. We got $4500 for a Jeep with a trade value of about $1700. We originally wanted a Camry hybrid but C4C had decimated inventories and there were none available. There was only one Prius left on a local lot. We didn't want to spend $50k on another RX. Also, it wouldn't qualify for C4C which had a $45k sticker price limit.

After 5k miles, we really like the Prius. No noticeable rattles yet and we have not experienced the braking problem. The RX has an annoying "squeak" in the back seat. I keep forgetting to have the dealer try to fix it when in for routine service.

The RX is a nice vehicle. Many nice features you would expect on a $50k car. It is comfortable, drives well, and has plenty of power. With the wife driving it, she was getting around 28 mpg, pretty good for a 4300# SUV. We fit a foursome with bags and clubs in it for a trip to Myrtle Beach.

The RX doesn't get driven much now. I prefer to drive my BMW and the wife drives the Prius in her commute.

Comparing the Prius and RX is sort of apples and oranges. But we like them both. If the Prius had memory seats, mirrors, and steering wheel, it would almost be a toss-up between the two. The RX gets the nod due to its load carrying ability and power. The Prius gets the nod due its economy (purchase and mpg), but it also has good interior volume for a small car.

Hopefully, we'll be lucky and not develop the rattles in the Prius.

 

My gun rack is bigger than your gun rack.

 

That's nothing. I don't even need a rack. My guns hang off my shoulders, one on each side.

 

Typical people don't drive the Prius; we are all way above average. :cheer2:

 

I have the most in common with you so far so maybe WE are the typical. I'm almost 40, never thought I'd end up at a car site either.

I love my car.

How did this turn into a rack competition?

( I can't believe Tom let that one pass...)

 

You must be the Topper character in Dilbert!

 

Thank you and great formulated answer. I think they have used the save weight argument to use much cheaper materials than they have.

I can only say very lucky to you, if I didn't have those rattles and my raido problem, I would loved this car.

 

Thank you I will take what you say into heart and make my decision. I think I will still stick to my prius because I do love my car but just need to sort out a few problems. I've already went to the dealers today and start to foam up a few places and the rattles seems to have died down a bit.
Now I just have to fix my raido problem (already fited DAB today) but didn't really work so will go for the LED lights to see how it will make the change.

 

A 10 + year old post! The prius was listed as the most practical car to buy by CR.
I remember the 70's oil shortages, that su... was bad. We had a bump up in 2007 when
prices were heading north of $4.

We have low gasoline prices now but things can change. Around these parts (Massachusetts) I've
seen a few Prii with a bumper sticker "Not a liberal"

I have to put snows on which is a pain, not sure if the all wheel drive will be OK as I really like the
braking with snows and I like the tax credits with a Prime, so I'll probably get another Prime next year
(Prii #6)